By Staff Reporter
Concerned about the state of service delivery, particularly the ongoing water struggles local residents continue to grapple with, the Makana Citizens Front (MCF) this week decided to seek answers from the powers that be, warning that the worst could be on the way.
In a letter to municipal manager Pumelelo Kate, mayor Yandiswa Vara and the Human Rights Commission, the MCF sought an explanation regarding the Settlers Dam pumpstation, among other issues.
The party argued that “the Settlers Dam pump maintenance failure and routine check is another root cause of the great water disaster and crisis impacting negatively to all residents and local businesses”.
“The MCF and all residents of our beloved City are extremely concerned about municipal failure in addressing the ongoing water crisis. We bring to your urgent attention that the pump station that is used to transfer water from Settlers Dam has not been in use since the drought of 2019 and therefore is unlikely to be in a usable state.”
The MCF said cited the following reasons:
- Howieson’s Poort is a small dam that needs to be topped up when it is not raining regularly, to ensure that the pump station at that dam can supply water to the Waainek Water Treatment Works, which supplies the west side of Makhanda.
- Settlers Dam is a much bigger dam, which has filled up since the drought broke.
- The standard operating procedure for this pair of dams is to pump water to Howieson’s Poort long before it is too empty to use, so that water supply to the Waainek Water Treatment Works is not interrupted.
- If a pump is not used for an extended time, it needs routine maintenance such as turning it manually every week to ensure that it remains in working order.
- Pumps at the Howieson’s Poort pump station that were out of use for several years failed when started up precisely because this type of routine maintenance was not performed.
- If this matter is not attended to urgently, when Howieson’s Poort Dam drops below the level where water can be supplied, the Waainek plant will shut down, creating an unnecessary water crisis.
- Since the pumpstation feeding water up to Howieson’s Poort from Settlers pumps slower than the pump station feeding water up to Waainek from Howieson’s Poort, if this problem is not rectified soon, it will be impossible to catch up without significant rain, meaning that days without water will be inevitable.
- As you are aware, or reasonably should have been aware, access to quality, clean drinkable water is a constitutional and human rights issue and repeated municipal failure to deliver water amounts to gross violation of all Makhanda residents’ rights. This violation of our basic rights leads to violation of all other rights such as but not limited to the following:
- Environmental rights are compromised as people cannot flush, or wash themselves, a situation that can give rise to diseases.
- Access to nutrition is compromised because people cannot cook and eat nutritional hot meals.
- It leads to increase in mass hunger and poverty.
- Health rights are compromised and those residents who are on medication and expected to take tablets and medication regularly are compromised because they cannot use tablets without water.
- Adequate access to housing is compromised because there can be no development without water.
- Violation of water rights leads to job losses and business closures.
- Children’s right to education is compromised as children have to leave schools due to lack of water; quality teaching time lost reflects at the end of the year through poor matric results and, as a result, the future of our city is placed in a precarious position.
“Since you routinely fail to answer our letters, we are adding this to our complaint to the Human Rights Commission. We are also making the letter public. We expect an answer from you within five days of the date of this letter detailing your turnaround and maintenance plan.”
MCF leader Lungile Mxube further asked the municipality to contact him for further clarity, providing his contact number.
Meanwhile, retired engineer Peter Sturrock, also written to the municipality, last month, querying the Settlers Day pump station. Sturrock’s correspondence was addressed to Kate, his secretary, mayor Vara and her secretary as well as Richard Gaybba.
“Dear Municipal Manager, I refer to the “Baseline Assessment Report on the Settlers Dam Pumpstation (Rev 2)” by Bosch Stemele (Pty)Ltd dated January 2015. The report sets out the importance of the Settlers Dam Pumpstation in the reliable delivery of water to Waainek and hence Makhanda. The report also assesses the extremely poor and non-functional state of the pumpstation at the time and sets out remedial measures that should be undertaken.
“The water level of Howiesons Poort Dam is already starting to drop and if there is not significant rainfall soon, pumping from Settlers Dam will be required.
“Could you please advise as a matter of urgency what is the current state of the Settlers Dam Pumpstation. In recent weeks we have, for different reasons, experienced the effect of limited water supply from Waainek to Makhanda and the negative impact it has on the town and its residents.”
Grocott’s Mail has attempted to obtain a response from the municipality regarding the letters, to no avail.
